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Based upon the hetero-N,O ligand of pyrimidine-5-carboxylic acid (Hpmc), a new semiconductive Cu(i)/Cu(ii) mixed-valence MOF with the full light spectrum and a novel topology of {4 3 ·6 12 ·8 6 } 2 {4 3 ·6 3 } 2 {6 3 } 6 {6 4 ·8 2 } 3 , {(Cu 4 I 4 ) 2.5 [Cu 3 (μ 4 -O) (μ 3 -I) (pmc) 3 (Dabco) 3 ]·2.5DMF·2MeCN} ∞ (NJU-Bai61, NJU-Bai for Nanjing University Bai group; Dabco = 1,4-diazabicyclo [2.2.2] octane), was synthesized stepwise. NJU-Bai61 exhibits good water/pH stabilities and a relatively large CO 2 adsorption capacity (29.82 cm 3 g -1 at 1 atm, 273 K) and could photocatalyze the reduction of CO 2 into CH 4 without additional photosensitizers and cocatalysts and with a high CH 4 production rate (15.75 μmol g -1 h -1 ) and a CH 4 selectivity of 72.8%. The CH 4 selectivity is the highest among the reported MOFs in aqueous solution. Experimental data and theoretical calculations further revealed that the Cu 4 I 4 cluster may adsorb light to generate photoelectrons and transfer them to its Cu 3 OI(CO 2 ) 3 cluster, and the Cu 3 OI(CO 2 ) 3 cluster could provide active sites to adsorb and reduce CO 2 and deliver sufficient electrons for CO 2 to produce CH 4 . This is the first time that the old Cu(i) x X y L z coordination polymers' application has been extended for the photoreduction of CO 2 to CH 4 and this opens up a new platform for the effective photoreduction of CO 2 to CH 4 ., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Here, we report a sensitive DocMF system that uses next-generation sequencing chips to profile protein-DNA interactions. Using DocMF, we successfully identified a variety of endonuclease recognition sites and the protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) sequences of different CRISPR systems. DocMF can simultaneously screen both 5' and 3' PAMs with high coverage. For SpCas9, we found noncanonical 5'-NAG-3' (~5%) and 5'-NGA-3' (~1.6%), in addition to its common PAMs, 5'-NGG-3' (~89.9%). More relaxed PAM sequences of two uncharacterized Cas endonucleases, VeCas9 and BvCas12a, were extensively characterized using DocMF. Moreover, we observed that dCas9, a DNA binding protein lacking endonuclease activity, preferably bound to the previously reported 5'-NGG-3' sequence. In summary, our studies demonstrate that DocMF is the first tool with the capacity to exhaustively assay both the binding and the cutting properties of different DNA binding proteins., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).)

The libraries generated by high-throughput single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) platforms such as the Chromium from 10× Genomics require considerable amounts of sequencing, typically due to the large number of cells. The ability to use these data to address biological questions is directly impacted by the quality of the sequence data. Here we have compared the performance of the Illumina NextSeq 500 and NovaSeq 6000 against the BGI MGISEQ-2000 platform using identical Single Cell 3' libraries consisting of over 70 000 cells generated on the 10× Genomics Chromium platform. Our results demonstrate a highly comparable performance between the NovaSeq 6000 and MGISEQ-2000 in sequencing quality, and the detection of genes, cell barcodes, Unique Molecular Identifiers. The performance of the NextSeq 500 was also similarly comparable to the MGISEQ-2000 based on the same metrics. Data generated by both sequencing platforms yielded similar analytical outcomes for general single-cell analysis. The performance of the NextSeq 500 and MGISEQ-2000 were also comparable for the deconvolution of multiplexed cell pools via variant calling, and detection of guide RNA (gRNA) from a pooled CRISPR single-cell screen. Our study provides a benchmark for high-capacity sequencing platforms applied to high-throughput scRNA-seq libraries., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of NAR Genomics and Bioinformatics.)

Objective: Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of dietary sucralose on diet preference and growth performance of weaned piglets, and a third experiment was a 28-d safety study to examine if high-dose sucralose could affect the health state of weaned piglets., Methods: In experiment one, 48 piglets had free access to a corn-soybean based diet and the same diet supplemented with 150 mg/kg sucralose for 15 d. In experiment two, 180 piglets were blocked into 5 treatments with 6 replications. They were fed basal diets supplemented with 0, 75, 150, 225, and 300 mg/kg sucralose for 28 days. In experiment three, 108 piglets were randomly assigned to 3 treatments and fed diets supplemented with 0, 150 (suitable level), and 1,500 (ten-fold suitable level) mg/kg sucralose for 28 d., Results: The experiment 1 showed that piglets preferred (p < 0.05) diets containing sucralose during experimental period. In experiment 2, piglets fed a diet supplemented with 150 mg/kg sucralose had a higher average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) than pigs in the control group and other treatment groups during the experiment period. The concentrations of sucralose over 150 mg/kg may decrease feed intake. However, no difference in feed conversion ratio was observed. In experiment 3, piglets fed diet supplemented with 150 mg/kg sucralose had a higher average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) than that of pigs in the control group and 1500 mg/kg treatment groups during the experiment period. Clinical blood metabolites, organ index and histological morphology were not significantly different between sucralose treatments., Conclusion: Sucralose can promote feed intake and thereby improve growth performance of weaned piglets. Moreover, inclusion of 1,500 mg/kg sucralose was demonstrated to have no observed adverse effects. Supplementing 150 mg/kg sucralose for weaned piglets is recommended in this study.

On the basis of the [Fe 3 (μ 3 -O)(COO) 6 ] cluster and 3,3',5,5'-diphenyltetracarboxylic acid (H 4 BPTC), three novel metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), NJU-Bai25, NJU-Bai26, and NJU-Bai27 (NJU-Bai for Bai's group at Nanjing University ) with different (4,4,4,6)-, (4,4,4,4,4,6)-, and (4,4,6)-connected nets were obtained in different solvent systems, in which due to the steric hindrance of the coordinated solvents the conformations of BPTC gradually change from the planar to the torsional; thus, the pore sizes of those MOFs were also gradually narrowed. Interestingly, the MOFs show high thermal/chemical stabilities and selective CO 2 adsorption: NJU-Bai27 exhibits larger CO 2 uptake (5.0 and 13.8 wt %) at 298 K under 0.15 and 1 bar, whereas NJU-Bai26 has a higher selectivity for CO 2 /N 2 (366).

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common heart rhythm disorder and a major cause of stroke. Unfortunately, current therapies for AF are suboptimal, largely because the molecular mechanisms underlying AF are poorly understood. Since the autonomic nervous system is thought to increase vulnerability to AF, we used a rapid atrial pacing (RAP) canine model to investigate the anatomic and electrophysiological characteristics of autonomic remodeling in different regions of the left atrium. RAP led to marked hypertrophy of parent nerve bundles in the posterior left atrium (PLA), resulting in a global increase in parasympathetic and sympathetic innervation throughout the left atrium. Parasympathetic fibers were more heterogeneously distributed in the PLA when compared with other left atrial regions; this led to greater fractionation and disorganization of AF electrograms in the PLA. Computational modeling revealed that heterogeneously distributed parasympathetic activity exacerbates sympathetic substrate for wave break and reentry. We further discovered that levels of nerve growth factor (NGF) were greatest in the left atrial appendage (LAA), where AF was most organized. Preferential NGF release by the LAA - likely a direct function of frequency and regularity of atrial stimulation - may have important implications for creation of a vulnerable AF substrate.

A pure-supramolecular-linker (PSL) approach for the formation of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) was initially given, which was demonstrated by syntheses of two highly connected and isostructural MOFs, {Fe 3 O(TPBTM 6- )(Cl)(H 2 O) 2 } ∞ (TPBTM = N , N ', N ″-tris(isophthalyl)-1,3,5-benzenetricarboxamide) (NJU-Bai52, NJU-Bai for Nanjing University Bai group) and {Sc 3 O(TPBTM 6- )(OH)(H 2 O) 2 } ∞ (NJU-Bai53). Very interestingly, they exhibit exceptional thermal stability, water stability, and highly selective CO 2 capture properties. In particular, NJU-Bai53 with higher uptakes (2.74 wt % at 0.4 mbar and 298 K, 7.67 wt % at 298 K and 0.15 bar) and higher selectivity may be an excellent candidate for CO 2 capture.

Aim: To study DNA methylation patterns of Alu Y subfamilies in schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BPD). Patients & methods: A bisulfite conversion-specific one-label extension method was employed to detect the Alu Y subfamily methylation levels of peripheral blood DNA from 92 SCZ patients, 99 BPD patients and 92 controls. Results: Hypermethylation of the Alu Y A1 and A2 CpG sites in BPD patients and hypomethylation of A3 CpG site in both of BPD and SCZ patients, and opposite age-dependent methylation alterations between SCZ and controls. Conclusion: The differentially altered DNA methylation patterns of the Alu Y families between BPD and SCZ suggest the role of DNA methylation in the pathogenesis of these major psychiatric disorders.

Key Message: FLO15encodes a plastidic glyoxalase I protein, OsGLYI7, which affects compound starch granule formation and starch synthesis in rice endosperm. Starch synthesis in rice (Oryza sativa) endosperm is a sophisticated process, and its underlying molecular machinery still remains to be elucidated. Here, we identified and characterized two allelic rice floury endosperm 15 (flo15) mutants, both with a white-core endosperm. The flo15 grains were characterized by defects in compound starch granule development, along with decreased starch content. Map-based cloning of the flo15 mutants identified mutations in OsGLYI7, which encodes a glyoxalase I (GLYI) involved in methylglyoxal (MG) detoxification. The mutations of FLO15/OsGLYI7 resulted in increased MG content in flo15 developing endosperms. FLO15/OsGLYI7 localizes to the plastids, and the in vitro GLYI activity derived from flo15 was significantly decreased relative to the wild type. Moreover, the expression of starch synthesis-related genes was obviously altered in the flo15 mutants. These findings suggest that FLO15 plays an important role in compound starch granule formation and starch synthesis in rice endosperm.

A new amide-functionalized metal-organic framework (AFMOF) with the combined feature of highly selective CO 2 adsorption and high thermal and chemical stability, [Sc 3 (μ 3 -O)(L) 1.5 (H 2 O) 3 Cl] n [NJU-Bai49; NJU-Bai for Nanjing University Bai's group, H 4 L = 5-(3,5-dicarboxybenzamido)isophthalic acid], was synthesized that exhibits 4.5 wt % CO 2 uptake at 298 K and 0.15 bar and the highest selectivity for CO 2 /N 2 (166.7) among all AFMOFs. Grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations further indicate that both the decorated amide group and the open metal site act as CO 2 binding sites, which may contribute to its highly selective CO 2 uptake.

A new approach of finely tuning multinuclear clusters of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) through symmetry-upgradingly isoreticular transformation was first presented and a bcu-type MOF, {[Cu 4 (μ 4 -O)Cl 2 (IN) 4 ][CuCl 2 ]} ∞ (NJU-Bai35; NJU-Bai for Nanjing University Bai group), with cluster [Cu 4 (μ 4 -O)Cl 2 (COO) 4 N 4 ] of higher symmetry compared to the pristine MOF, was successfully synthesized. The symmetry upgrading implemented on the inorganic part triggers the adjustment of channels in NJU-Bai35 to fit CO 2 molecules, leading to a high CO 2 adsorption capacity (7.20 wt % at ∼0.15 bar and 298 K) and high selectivity of CO 2 over N 2 and CH 4 (275.8 for CO 2 /N 2 and 11.6 for CO 2 /CH 4 ) in NJU-Bai35. Breakthrough experiments further confirmed that NJU-Bai35 might be an excellent candidate for CO 2 capture and natural gas purification.

Starch synthesized and stored in amyloplasts serves as the major energy storage molecule in cereal endosperm. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying amyloplast development and starch synthesis, we isolated a series of floury endosperm mutants in rice ( Oryza sativa ). We identified the rice mutant floury shrunken endosperm1 ( fse1 ), which exhibited obvious defects in the development of compound starch grains, decreased starch content, and altered starch physicochemical features. Map-based cloning showed that FSE1 encodes a phospholipase-like protein homologous to phosphatidic acid-preferring phospholipase A 1 FSE1 was expressed ubiquitously with abundant levels observed in developing seeds and roots. FSE1 was localized to both the cytosol and intracellular membranes. Lipid profiling indicated that total extra-plastidic lipids and phosphatidic acid were increased in fse1 plants, suggesting that FSE1 may exhibit in vivo phospholipase A 1 activity on phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidyl-Ser, phosphatidylethanolamine, and, in particular, phosphatidic acid. Additionally, the total galactolipid content in developing fse1 endosperm was significantly reduced, which may cause abnormal amyloplast development. Our results identify FSE1 as a phospholipase-like protein that controls the synthesis of galactolipids in rice endosperm and provide a novel connection between lipid metabolism and starch synthesis in rice grains during endosperm development., (© 2018 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved.)

Premature leaf senescence in cotton, which often happens during the mid to late growth period, has been occurring with an increasing frequency in many cotton-growing areas and causing serious reduction in yield and quality. One of the key factors causing cotton leaf senescence is the infection of Alternaria leaf spot pathogens (Alternaria species), which often happens when cotton plants encounter adverse environmental conditions, such as chilling stress and physiological impairment. Stressed cotton leaves are apt to be infected by Alternaria leaf spot pathogens (Alternaria alternata) because of the reduction in disease resistance, leading to the initiation of leaf senescence. Here we describe the induction of cotton leaf senescence by Alternaria alternata infection, including the evaluation of the disease index and measure of physiological impairment associated with cotton leaf senescence and analysis of possible molecular mechanism using microarray.

Key Message: OsPPR6, a pentatricopeptide repeat protein involved in editing and splicing chloroplast RNA, is required for chloroplast biogenesis in rice. The chloroplast has its own genetic material and genetic system, but it is also regulated by nuclear-encoded genes. However, little is known about nuclear-plastid regulatory mechanisms underlying early chloroplast biogenesis in rice. In this study, we isolated and characterized a mutant, osppr6, that showed early chloroplast developmental defects leading to albino leaves and seedling death. We found that the osppr6 mutant failed to form thylakoid membranes. Using map-based cloning and complementation tests, we determined that OsPPR6 encoded a new Pentatricopeptide Repeat (PPR) protein localized in plastids. In the osppr6 mutants, mRNA levels of plastidic genes transcribed by the plastid-encoded RNA polymerase decreased, while those of genes transcribed by the nuclear-encoded RNA polymerase increased. Western blot analyses validated these expression results. We further investigated plastidic RNA editing and splicing in the osppr6 mutants and found that the ndhB transcript was mis-edited and the ycf3 transcript was mis-spliced. Therefore, we demonstrate that OsPPR6, a PPR protein, regulates early chloroplast biogenesis and participates in editing of ndhB and splicing of ycf3 transcripts in rice.

In cereal crops, starch synthesis and storage depend mainly on a specialized class of plastids, termed amyloplasts. Despite the importance of starch, the molecular machinery regulating starch synthesis and amyloplast development remains largely unknown. Here, we report the characterization of the rice (Oryza sativa) floury endosperm7 (flo7) mutant, which develops a floury-white endosperm only in the periphery and not in the inner portion. Consistent with the phenotypic alternation in flo7 endosperm, the flo7 mutant had reduced amylose content and seriously disrupted amylopectin structure only in the peripheral endosperm. Notably, flo7 peripheral endosperm cells showed obvious defects in compound starch grain development. Map-based cloning of FLO7 revealed that it encodes a protein of unknown function. FLO7 harbors an N-terminal transit peptide capable of targeting functional FLO7 fused to green fluorescent protein to amyloplast stroma in developing endosperm cells, and a domain of unknown function 1338 (DUF1338) that is highly conserved in green plants. Furthermore, our combined β-glucuronidase activity and RNA in situ hybridization assays showed that the FLO7 gene was expressed ubiquitously but exhibited a specific expression in the endosperm periphery. Moreover, a set of in vivo experiments demonstrated that the missing 32 aa in the flo7 mutant protein are essential for the stable accumulation of FLO7 in the endosperm. Together, our findings identify FLO7 as a unique plant regulator required for starch synthesis and amyloplast development within the peripheral endosperm and provide new insights into the spatial regulation of endosperm development in rice., (© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.)

Purpose: The study aims to uncover molecular mechanisms of PTC (papillary thyroid carcinoma) progression and provide therapeutic biomarkers., Methods: The paired tumor and control tissues were obtained from 5 PTC patients. RNA was extracted and cDNA libraries were constructed. RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed on the Illumina HiSeq2000 platform using paired-end method. After preprocessing of the RNA-seq data, gene expression value was calculated by RPKM. Then the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified with edgeR. Functional enrichment and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analyses were conducted for the DEGs. Module analysis of the PPI network was also performed. Transcription factors (TFs) of DEGs were predicted., Results: A cohort of 496 up-regulated DEGs mainly correlating with the ECM degradation pathways, and 440 down-regulated DEGs predominantly enriching in transmembrane transport process were identified. Hub nodes in the PPI network were RRM2 and a set of collagens (COL1A1, COL3A1 and COL5A1), which were also remarkable in module 3 and module 5, respectively. Genes in module 3 were associated with cell cycle pathways, while in module 5 were related to ECM degradation pathways. PLAU, PSG1 and EGR2 were the crucial TFs with higher transcriptional activity in PTC than in control., Conclusion: Several genes including COL1A1, COL3A1, RRM2, PLAU, and EGR2 might be used as biomarkers of PTC therapy. Among them, COL1A1 and COL3A1 might exert their functions via involving in ECM degradation pathway, while RRM2 through cell cycle pathway. PLAU might be an active TF, whereas EGR2 might be a tumor suppressor., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Insects are the most speciose group of animals, but the phylogenetic relationships of many major lineages remain unresolved. We inferred the phylogeny of insects from 1478 protein-coding genes. Phylogenomic analyses of nucleotide and amino acid sequences, with site-specific nucleotide or domain-specific amino acid substitution models, produced statistically robust and congruent results resolving previously controversial phylogenetic relations hips. We dated the origin of insects to the Early Ordovician [~479 million years ago (Ma)], of insect flight to the Early Devonian (~406 Ma), of major extant lineages to the Mississippian (~345 Ma), and the major diversification of holometabolous insects to the Early Cretaceous. Our phylogenomic study provides a comprehensive reliable scaffold for future comparative analyses of evolutionary innovations among insects., (Copyright © 2014, American Association for the Advancement of Science.)

An ion-pair complex [FBzPy][Ni(mnt)2], where [FBzPy]+ = 1-(4'-fluorobenzyl)pyridinium and mnt2- = maleonitriledithiolate, forms a discrete stacking column and shows a peculiar magnetic transition from paramagnetic to diamagnetic around 90 K.